A Career path is a method by which an employee can develop and progress within an organization. Many organisations have lost really good staff because there was no clear projection, not know what to expect and when this would happen in their careers. Gone are the days when management will have plans for the star employee without involving the said employee.
Career ladders are the progression of jobs in an organization’s specific occupational fields ranked from highest to lowest based on level of responsibility and pay. Career paths encompass varied forms of career progression, including the traditional vertical career ladders, dual career ladders, horizontal career lattices, and career progression outside the organization.
Employees usually feel more engaged when they believe that their employer is concerned about their growth and provides avenues to reach individual career goals while fulfilling the company’s mission. The staff these days are not going to stay twenty-five years anywhere hoping to become CEO or even just work till retirement. More than at any other time companies have to address the issues of career progression.
A career development path provides employees with an ongoing mechanism to enhance their skills and knowledge that can lead to mastery of their current jobs, promotions, and transfers to new or different positions. Implementing career paths also have a direct impact on the entire organization by improving morale, career satisfaction, motivation, productivity, and responsiveness in meeting departmental and organizational objectives.
Read Also: You don’t need coding skills for these 5 tech careers
In a traditional career ladder system, the person is hired and, through a combination of experience, education, and opportunity, is promoted to levels that encompass additional responsibility and commensurate compensation. This progression within an organization continues until the individual leaves the employer for another opportunity, retires, reaches a level at which no further promotional opportunities exist, chooses to decline subsequent promotional opportunities, or is terminated.
Reaching the next level in an organization that has a traditional career ladder often means having the right experiences. Yet many workers do not know what experiences will work best to prepare them for upward mobility. People who have experiences that are “accelerators” of potential will be more likely to succeed.
Talking honestly many things have become blurred because of the technological direction the world is going through. However even now first-level leaders are more likely to achieve success if they have had cross-functional experiences; midlevel leaders are more likely to succeed if they have had experiences handling tough challenges, such as a difficult employee situation; and new executive leaders are more likely to succeed if they have had high-risk and high-visibility experiences.
Examples of success factors for first-level leaders are Standardizing processes and procedures within and across organizational units. Improving the quality of products or services. Redesigning or re-engineering a major operating procedure or process. Handling projects requiring the direct participation of parties within and outside the organization.Managing projects and teams that include participants from several units or functions throughout the organisation.
For mid- manager levels, success includes being involved in turning around a struggling organizational unit. Playing a part in the negotiation of a major agreement.Helping employees overcome performance difficulties. Build a team especially in a unit with a high level of distrust existing between managers and direct reports. Being innovative with out-of-box thinking.
Career advancement requires that individuals do the right things to get ahead. Some of these right things are for them to seek high-profile assignments. Mix with influential leaders. Communicate openly and directly about their career aspirations. Seek visibility for their accomplishments. Let their supervisors know of their skills and willingness to contribute and their willingness for more opportunities continually. They should learn the political and unwritten rules of the organization and are not afraid to ask for help.
This goes both ways. The organisation must come up with a grid that shows without equivocation what you need to do, qualifications, and skills staff have to acquire that will enable staff moves forward along the ladder. This is because some groups of people are pushier and maybe gaining attention without really having proven skills.
Problems for HR will come up without the company’s career pathing grid.
This is to hedge against the wrong people getting ahead. HRM cannot force people but can push people along the grid so that there is no doubt as to the way up the ladder. The more detailed the grid, the better.
Have a good weekend. As always thank God it is Friday. Recharge your batteries and begin to think career progression and ladders because it actually has an impact on the bottom line.
This again is a result of research online and experience. I will continue talking about paths and ladders next week.
